LORE s01e04
January 14, 1942 = Timeline Events = * January 1 - The Paukenschlag (Drumbeat) plot: German Ubermenschen attempt to assassinate President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill with a bomb. They fail when the Talent known as "The Shade" sacrifices himself by turning himself, The Doppelganger, and the bomb insubstantial. The Talents Shade, Aquarius, Deja Vu, and Dan Mitchell also were involved in saving the White House and fending off the Ubermensch known as Doktorgihernbinden (Doctor Mindbender). In the following weeks, a charter was signed among the Allied Atlantic nations, forming the beginning of the United Nations. * January 1 – The United States and Philippines troops fight the Battle of Bataan. * January 2 – Manila is captured by Japanese forces. The Filipino Talent "Anguis" destroys three light tanks and kills sixty-four Japanese marines. * January 3 - General Wavell, the Allied Forces commander in Southeast Asia, is told to "hold the line". Churchill assigns Jot, a British teleporter, to Wavell's command to keep communication lines open. * January 7 – The siege of the Bataan Peninsula begins. * January 10 - A Japanese submarine torpedoes the US aircraft carrier "Saratoga". Ensign Walter "Ironclad" Kelly manifests as a Talent, with a skin that was far stronger than any metal. * January 11 – Japan declares war on the Netherlands and invades the Netherlands East Indies. Also, the Japanese capture Kuala Lumpur. = Character Improvements = * Dan Mitchell - Charm improved to 3 (5 xp), 1d Persuade (2 xp) * Deja Vu - 2d Willpower Battery (2 xp), 1d Hindsight (1 xp) * Puddles - 2d athletics (4 xp), 1d heat/chill water (1 xp, 1 base will), 1d encase in ice (1 xp, 1 base will), 1 base will (3 xp) * Shade - 1hd Charm, 1hd Persuasion = Episode Summary = The Talents are harassed by Maxwell Wilson, the senior editor of the Chicago Inquisitor, after Abraham Bailey leaves for a conference of newspaper owners on the East Coast. After dealing with the weasel by having his coffee spill onto his shirt, they are called into a meeting with Agent Price. It seems that a Talent volunteer from the small town of Hiram, IL has failed to show up at the appropriate meet. Worse yet, the agent sent to retrieve him has gone missing. The Talent Team is sent to investigate. Before they leave, they are forced to sit through a meeting where Maxwell Wilson ineffectually pushes a 20 page document detailing the new "American Journalism Association standards." The Talents drive to Hiram, IL, where they find the one-stoplight town deserted. At a diner near the Sheriff's office, they find free pie (which Deja Vu pays for) and explore the kitchen to find a fresh grisly corpse, flayed alive by what appeared to be millions of cuts. Against his better judgment, Deja Vu uses hindsight to find that the corpse was the cook, who was fending off some sort of tornado of white blades. Further investigation at the police station revealed the lone survivor, a hobo that warned them against the "white demons". Driving up to the library in the north, the Talents find several human-sized animated paper dolls, with stretched-out faces. The dolls immediately chase after them. After a driving accident and several soaked and burned animated paper dolls, the Talents arrive at an abandoned farmhouse, where they recuperate and lay low. Puddles is sent to the nearest town to phone in their report and retrieve supplies. Agent Price, over the phone, orders the team to capture or terminate the Talent involved. The Talents approached the library under stealth. Using Optical Camouflage, Dan Mitchell headed through the front door of the library and proceeded downstairs to the Lecture room, where he found the Talent volunteer strapped to the wall against a crucifix and a paper cathedral built like a house of cards. In the center was a maniacal and scantily-clad blond woman who was dressed in a gown made of paper. Dan unsuccessfully flashbanged the room, and several of the cathedral's pillars crept out in the form of paper dolls and incapacitated Dan. After 5 minutes, Puddles and Deja Vu went in to rescue Dan. They were unable to overcome the woman's enormous pool of Willpower, however, and resorted to conventional tactics (namely, an improvised Flamethrower and several fire bombs made of kerosene and mason jars). In the process, Deja Vu's left arm was burned to a crisp (subsequently healed by Puddles, although scarred) and a mason jar exploded in Puddles' hand. Eventually, the female Talent was damaged enough that she dropped the animated paper dolls and cathedral and appeared to "enter" the unfortunate Talent volunteer's body, which turned into a large 10 foot tall paper golem. The Talents were able to set the paper golem on fire. The paper golem chased Deja Vu into the Boiler Room, where he was able to produce a duplicate of himself and lure the large monster into the Fuel room. Taking refuge in the women's toilet room and behind one of Puddles' water shields, the Talents survived the subsequent explosive combination of the burning golem and the Fuel room. Burned and battered, the Talents went upstairs in the ruined building and waited on the front steps of the library. Agent Price's contacts cover up the incident as an exploded faulty gas line in the Carnegie Library. = Quotes = * Looking for objects to fight paper: Deja Vu: "I got scissors." Dan Mitchell: "I got a rock." Deja Vu: "You idiot." * Deja Vu: "Did you get a new hat for me?" Puddles, annoyed: "Uh... no." * Bryan, OOC: "You know that one scene from "Brazil"? The one where a man gets taken away by a tornado of paper? Yeah..." = Endgame Bonuses = * 2 XP, 1 for participation/survival, 1 for thwarting the Paper Demon * 1 XP awarded to Steve/"Mitch" for MVP * Knowledge: Improvised Explosives 1d = Related Documents = You Read It Here First!